1911 Magazine Question

In a day when "spec" seems to be a four letter word, I wouldn't make book on that.

FWIW, I had an interesting problem with a ten-round 1911 magazine I bought for pins. Somehow I didn't notice that it had no tab on the front to provide a stop. So I slapped it into the gun and tried to load the first round. The slide wouldn't run forward. I tapped it. No go. So I try to remove the magazine. It won't come out. Now I am holding a pistol with ten rounds in a magazine and I can't get it unloaded, nor can I fire it.

So I called an alibi and problem. With everyone well back, I went to work. It took me five minutes to get that magazine out. What had happened was that with no stop to substitute for the floorplate lip, the magazine went all the way up and wedged itself in high enough to block the slide. What a pain. No danger, but my face was pretty red, as I am supposed to know a bit about 1911's.

I threw that magazine away and bought another 10 rounder from another company that has a stop welded on.

My Springer came with two 7-round magazines and I hated them because they did not have a supported follower and that can cause reliability problems.

Metalform is what the Springfield Custom Shop uses on it's FBI Professional model and from what I've heard they function well.

Just about every 1911 guy I know uses Wilson Combat mags.

I have two stainless 8-round Kimber mags with flat base pads and the supported follower. I really don't like the big bumper on the bottom of the mags.

Chip McCormicks are good too.

I notice when I load all 8 rounds into my mags, they don't want to seat in the gun all the time, so I usually just load 7 in the gun and go with that. I mean in a SD situation, I'm probably not going to shoot off 7 or 8 rounds. 7 works for me. Could just be the mags I'm using too. Springs might just be stiff still.

chip mags have a kewl follower design that facilitates magazine disassembly thru the top. without removing the floor plate. Great thing because alot of chips mags are true to the original design in that the floor plate is welded in on some of them. I have never had a magazine malfunction with chip mags. and I use both the shooting star mags and the power mags.

no. an officers ACP uses a 6 round mag to fit flush. Most base pads fit onto the bottom of the mag only adding more length.

What is wrong with an extra inch of mag below the gun? It shouldnt impede function, and will give you a bit of extra grip on the shortened frame of the officers model. Not to mention an extra round of ammo..

The extra basepad on them is actually necessary for me, I have a magwell funnel on all of my 1911's so standard 7rd colt mags won't lock in unless you push them all the way with your finger or whatever. But even on standard 1911's, the basepad on wilson's or any other brand is so minimal, it really doesn't get in the way at all.

JLA...Nothing wrong, but I wanted things to look "more complete." I'll just deal as they are good mags. I see you're from the heart of Texas. Been thinkin' about going back home (Texas). Want to be about 200 miles west of Dallas. Wouldn't be close to you would it?

I haven't stuck this pic up in a while, so here goes. Like the rest of you guys I like the better mags, they are simply more reliable. As Josh said, if it's a 1911 mag then the only thing that keeps it from fitting in any 1911 is the length.

For those times when 7,8, or 10 rounds just ain't enough! You can always go with 20!

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There might be something very wrong about using a magazine longer than what the gun is made for. I once did that with a 10 round magazine in a standard M1911A1. I inserted the magazine and smacked it with the palm of my hand to make sure it seated, then tried to release the slide. The slide wouldn't move forward. When I tried to eject the magazine, it wouldn't come out. It took me ten minutes to get that magazine out. And this was in the middle of a pin shoot, so folks were unhappy. But I couldn't leave the firing point with a loaded gun, and had to keep it pointed down range, not ideal working conditions.

What happened was that the magazine had no stop and of course, the floorplate was well below the pistol grip. So the magazine went in too far and wedged itself onto the slide stop. The slide stop was forced upward, and would not move. And of course, with the slide fully to the rear the slide stop wouldn't come out so I couldn't disassemble the gun.

Lesson learned. I tossed that magazine and bought a couple with the stop welded to the front to substitute for the floorplate. They worked fine.

It is easy to tell that story on myself and laugh because it happened on a range. Not at all funny had it happened in a less benign environment.